Impeller



' IMPELLER Filed June 2, 1942 I 5 sheets-sheet .1

Q Q INVENTOR N/XON LEEJR B ATTORNEY N. LEE, JR

IMPELLER v Sept. 14, 1948.

Filed June 2. 1942 s sheets-shew; 2

INVENTOR A// x0/v LEE Jk. BY 1 WORN EY V IMPELLER v I Sept. 14, 1948.

'5 Sheets-Sheet 3 Filed June 2, l9 42 m m TE, m m

ATTORNEY Patented Sept. 14, 1948 IMIELLER Nixon Lee, Jr., Forest Hills,N. Y.; Nixon Lee, executor of said Nixon Lee, Jr., deceased ApplicationJune 2, 1942. Serial No. 445,416

This invention relates to an impeller, and more particularly an impellerdevice that is particularly adapted for operation in gaseous fluids suchas air.

One object of my invention is the provision of a rotary impellerprovided with a spiral blade that utilizes to best advantage both of itssurfaces simultaneously to force a gas. in a given direction.

A further object of the invention is the provision of an impeller inwhich a blade is mounted in the form of a spiral between a hub and ashield, the blade being essentially a section of an airfoil.

A further object of the invention resides in the combination of such animpeller with an aircraft to produce either forward motion or lift ofthe aircraft, or to perform both of these functions.

In order that my invention may be readily understood, reference is madeto one embodiment thereof illustrated in the accompanying drawings, inwhich Fig. 1 is a side view of the impeller with onehalf of the outershield broken away to show the internal construction.

Fig. 2 is a sectional View of the impeller taken upon the line 2--2 ofFig. 1.

Fig. 3 is a cross sectional view of an airfoil that is projected as aspiral to form the impeller blade.

Fig. 4 is a projection diagram of the airfoil section on a smaller scalecorresponding to the circumference of the impeller hub.

Fig. 5 is a perspective view of the impeller blade showing the rear halfof the shield attached thereto.

Fig. 6 is a radial sectional view through the impeller blade taken onthe line 66 of Fig. 5.

Fig. 7 is another radial sectional view taken through the blade on theline l-'| of Fig. 5.

Fig. 8 is a diagrammatic plan view showing an adaptation of the impellerfor imparting forward motion to an aircraft.

Fig. 9 is a diagrammatic plan view showing an adaptation of the impellerof this invention for producing lift in an air-craft.

In the drawings, numeral l indicates a U- shaped bracket or frame whichmay be secured to a suitable support I l by means of the bolts l2. ThisU-shaped frame is provided at its central point with a bearing 13 toreceive one end of the axle l4. Axle 14 may be rotated in the directionindicated by the arrow in Fig. 1 by a motor, engine or other suitablesource of power (not shown). The axle l4 also extends through a secondframe member I secured at its ends to the frame It] by bolts I6 andprovided centrally with a bearing 1Claim. (01. 170-156) i I! to supportthe axle. Inside the frame members HI and [5, a hub l8, which may be inthe form of a hollow or solid cylinder of considerable diameter, issplined or otherwise secured to the axle M for rotation therewith. Anouter shield IS in the nature of a cowling or shroud is provided in theform of a thinwalled cylindrical member spaced some distance fromandconcentric with the hub 18. The blade 20 of the impeller is in theform of a spiral attached to both the hub I8 and the shield l9 by anysuitable means such as welding. This blade 20 is shown as solid tosimplify its illustration, although it is preferably made of sheet metalor other sheet material in order to reduce its weight.

Blade20 is essentially a spiral projection of a segment or section of anairfoil of the shape shown in cross section in Fig. 3. The upper surfaceof the airfoil 2| becomes the forward surface 22 of the blade and thelower surface 23 of the airfoil section becomes the rear surface 24 ofthe blade. The leading edge 25 of the airfoil section is similarly theleading edge 26 of the impeller blade and the rear or trailing edge 21of the airfoil section becomes the tail or rearmost edge 28 of theimpeller blade. Thus, a radial section taken through the impeller bladeat any point is in the shape of a rectangle such as shown in Figs. 6 and'7, its proportions depending upon the thickness of the blade at thepoint of sectioning. Also,

the surface 2la (Fig. 5), assuming the blade 20 to be solid, is simply aspiral projection of Fig. 3 and the surface 2lb is a spiral projectionof Fig. 4. Neither the upper nor the lower surface of the airfoil isnecessarily parallel to its major axis 22a, and the projection of theseairfoil surfaces is preferably based upon the projection of this majoraxis around the hub [8 as a true spiral.

In the operation of this device, rotation of the impeller blade 20 inthe direction of the arrow shown in Fig. 1 advances the leading edge 26of the blade or airfoil section through the air and creates a flow ofair over both the surfaces 22 and 24 of the blade. The flow of air overthe rear surface 24, which is shaped for the most part like a truespiral surface, forces the air by a direct thrust in the direction ofthe support H, and produces a reaction force tending to move theimpeller in a direction away from the support I I.

When the speed of rotation of the blade becomes sufficient to create avery rapidly moving stream of air over the surface 22, a partial vacuumis created adjacent this surface in much the same fashion that a partialvacuum is created over the upper surface of an airplane wing duringflight,

This likewise creates a force tending to move the impeller blade in adirection away from the support H, so that in effect both surfaces ofthe blade are doing useful work, tending to move the impeller in onedirection.

In the design of this impeller, it is desirable to have a hub ofsubstantial diameter in order to move the blade surfaces adjacent thehubsufficiently rapidly to do useful work. At the same time, it isnecessary to confine the stream of air flowing over the blade surfaces,so that the effect of centrifugal force on this air stream will notcause the air stream to flow outwardly and over the sides of the blade.The shield 19 is one, simple way of avoiding this difliculty andpreventing centrifugal force from distorting't'he stream of air in whichthe impeller blade is working.

An impeller of this type is capable of exerting very efliciently a forcetending to movethe impeller and anything attached to it in a givendirection. It is thus well adapted for use in the aircraft, either toimpart forward motion to the aircraft as indicated in Fig.8, or toprovide lift for the aircraft as indicated in Fig. 9. In Fig. 8, forexample, two impellers 29 and 30 are substituted for the usual airplanepropeller blades and may be rotated by suitable motors. In Fig. 9, theimpellers 3| are shown as mounted in the wings and also in the fuselageof the plane at a point rearwardly of the wing. It is quite possiblethat by the use of such an impeller as this to provide lift for anairplane,tlie size of the wing of the plane may be greatly reduced.

Although an impeller with a single blade has been described, it will beapparent that two or more of such blades can be used in a singleimpeller with the leading edge of a second blade immediately followingor somewhat offset with respect to the trailing edge of the first blade.Multiple blades with each extending less than 360 shield surrounding andspaced from the hub, a

blade connecting said hub and shield comprising a section of an airfoilprojected in a spiral around said hub, said blade tapering withdiminishing rectangular cross section to a terminal sharp edge andhaving a substantially uniform thickness in a direction radially outwardfrom the hub, and means for rotating the blade.

NIXON LEE, JR.

REFERENCES CITED 7 The following references are of record in the file ofthis patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Name Date Aubert Sept. 7, 1869 Minnich Dec. 5,1910 Richards May 1, 1928 Drier Nov. 10, 1931 Ohnsorg Apr. 18, 1933Quast July 17, 1934 Lee Feb. 1, 1938 Baldwin Jan. 20, 1942 FOREIGNPATENTS Country Date Great Britain Feb. 7, 1934 Number Number

